[Avwriter]

I had planned on getting a 650, since I first read about the new line of Readers. All of my previous Readers have been 6" devices, and so I fully intended to continue the trend this time. The 6" screen just seemed the ideal size to me. I had played with the 300 a few times in stores, and was not impressed by the 5" screen and more limited features.

However, since the 350 seems to have arrived in US stores earlier than the 650, most of the user impressions posted here so far have been of 350s. The response to the 350 was so overwhelmingly positive, that combined with the delayed delivery of the 650, I felt inspired to give the smaller unit a try. My local store assured me that if I chose to upgrade to a 650, that they would wave the restocking fee. Thus, I had nothing to lose, though I fully expected that when the 650s came in that I would go in for an exchange.

After a day of use, I am not so sure. The 350 is a wonderful device, and has an identical interface to the 650. I am not interested in using it as an MP3 player since all my music is stored as WMP files. I also do not think I will miss the card slots as I rarely used them on my previous Readers. Thus, the only determining factors are the screen size, and the relative size and weight of the units.

So far, as some other users have reported, I am not finding the screen to be too small to read comfortably. Moreover, it so much more portable than the 650. I looked at the 650 display model, and while it is smaller than the 600, the difference did not seem as great as between the 300/350. Next to the 350, the 650 looked huge to me. Next to my 600, complete with an M-Edge case and light, the 350 seems like it could float away. Indeed, it reminds me slightly of my old Palm V, that I carried around back in the 90s.

So far, the only downsides I am finding are that with the smaller screen making notes is tougher. I do not do this intensely, but I do have a habit of underlining passages that I like. Also, I do find that I am flipping pages a bit more often, which I suppose will drain the battery faster, though by how much is anyone's guess.

I will continue trying it out over the next few days, and see if I continue to like the 5" screen. There is a part of me that still likes the form factor of the 6" screen. I also kind of had my eye set on the red 650. I am not so wild about the silver case of the 350 (pink is not an option for me), as it does not have as much visual contrast as red (or black for that matter) and it is highly reflective when reading in the dark with a booklight. I was just curious if anyone else is in the same quandary. I would be interested to hear your thoughts.